Wednesday 16 January 2013

Weightwatchers® (Friendly) Carrot Cake Buns


Date: 16/1/13

Background: Being on Weightwatchers® because I want to lose some weight to be healthier and feel more confident, it naturally means that some of my decadently delicious puddingy treats are at least for the time being off the menu. So I thought that, in order to continue enjoying pudding and blogging, I would try and make some weight watchers® friendly cakey treats! So here is my first attempt-with my favourite type of cake!

What: Weightwatchers® (Friendly) Carrot Cake Buns

How Much: Free… Well I had all the ingredients in my Mum’s store cupboard


Ingredients:
  • 250g Self Raising Flour
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 50g Margarine-melted
  • 175mls Skimmed Milk
  • 55g Caster Sugar & 55g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
  • 225g Carrots-grated
  • Zest of an Orange
  • 50g Raisins
  • 1tsp Cinnamon
  • 1tsp Ground Ginger
  • 1 tsp Mixed Spice
  • 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
To Decorate:
  • 10tsp Icing Sugar
  • Enough water to make it into a thick runny paste
Method:
  1. Preheat oven to 170C/Gas Mark 4
  2. Mix together the “wet ingredients” i.e. melted margarine, milk, vanilla and eggs
  3. Stir in the carrot, orange zest and raisins
  4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices
  5. Milk the sugar into the other “dry ingredients”
  6. Pour the “wet ingredients” into the dry ones and mix together until combined (try not to over beat)
  7. Pour the mixture into 16 prepared cake cases in their respective tins
  8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer into the centre of the cake comes out clean
  9. Allow to cool then decorate with 1/2tsp-1tsp icing
  10. Eat and Enjoy!



What was Good: It was a really light cake! Subtly spiced and with the added bonus of a little squidgey nugget of fruit as you eat it. It was moist and tasty and tasted very much like a carrot cake you would eat that was not weightwatchers® friendly! One of the best things that I found was that because it was so low in pro-points®, I could eat it without feeling guilty!

What was Bad: My icing went wrong… As you can tell… I only had 10tsp of icing sugar to work with, and I added too much water. But it did not detract from the taste of the cake! I think next time I would add more spices, to add a slightly less subtle flavour to the cake. I would also like to add some chopped walnuts to the mix, however this would up the pro-points® per serving.

Would I make them again?: Yes, give me a nice guilt-less cake anyday!

Strawb-rometer:

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Pro-points® per serving:  4
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WEIGHT WATCHERS and ProPoints® are the registered trademarks of Weight Watchers International, Inc. and are used under license by WeightWatchers.com, Inc.

Monday 7 January 2013

Weightwatchers…

 

RIGHT. I love this blog. It is lots of fun to do, I love baking and most of all I love eating pudding. But the problem is, I now weigh more than I ever have…. *big loud gulp*

THEREFORE. Me and my housey Amy have signed up to Weightwatchers Online! Open-mouthed smile Because we want to be light and skinny and frolic around like sexy slim Senorita’s!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE BLOG?!!? Nothing! What it means is, this has opened up my eyes to a whole new vision for pudding! Pudding made from light healthy recipes so that I can still eat pudding/cake/dessert and still carry on with my goal of losing weight!! Because if I am healthier, I will be happier!

WISH ME LUCK! AND FOLLOW MY WEIGHTWATCHERS JOURNEY!

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Friday 4 January 2013

Christmas Time. Pudding and Wine.


FIRSTLY, sorry about my severe lack of pudding posts as of late. It is been a busy time of the year, as it has for everybody, and I have been awful at documenting my desserty experiences.
But as you can probably imagine, Christmas time for me is by far one of the most pudding rich times and so many food babies were had that I cannot even begin to describe my constant excitement!

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Christmas Cake! Open-mouthed smile Made by my Amazing  Grandma, decorated with lovely homemade icing characters by my very talented cousin Abbie. I got a wonderful delivery of this fruity alcohol fuelled cake with my parents when they came to visit for dinner and Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding. I could not wait to taste this Christmastime staple! And when I did it did not fail to impress! Packed with fruit it was moist, soft, chewy, and layered with tangy nutty marzipan, and sweet sticky icing! It has gone down very with my housemate Amy, and I this holiday season, trust me.
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“Merry Christmas”- The Birmingham Bullring Bull

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Christmas Dinner. What a magical experience that was. My lovely friend Sarah-Jayne kindly asked me and Amy to join her and her boyfriend for Christmas Dinner, because I could not go home until Boxing day due to work commitments.
After a scrummy starter of pate and warm bread rolls we tucked in to an outstanding Christmas Dinner. So many delicious things on one plate. Turkey and all the trimmings. Two kinds of stuffing. Roast potatoes. Different varieties of broccoli and cauliflower cheese. El dente steamed vegetables. Gravy. Yorkshire puddings. It could not have been beaten!
What Xmas dinner would be complete without a steaming hot Crimbo Pudding!? Yes we had to wait about 2 hours for dinner to digest. And yes I did actually require a sleep in this time, but when it was served, with lashings of 2012-12-25 18.24.40Salted Caramel and Chantilly Cream. DELICIOUS!! Soft, sticky, gooey and tangily fruity! I could eat a hundred of them! If it didn’t clog up my stomach like a cakey puddingy lead weight that is…
And if that was not enough, when I go to work, our entire coffee room had been invaded by a buffet!! I have never seeeeeeeeeeeeen so much food!!! Spread over the whole countertop were a whole array of delicious things! I only wish I had not already eaten my bodyweight in Christmas deliciousness, I was unable to really enjoy the festive-food-ness!2012-12-25 19.40.29
[A rather rubbish panoramic photo of the Aladdin’s cave of delights!]
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Oh if only I could have eaten and blogged about all of the delicious puddings, cakes, pies and gateaux’s I had the utter delight of being in a room with on Boxing Day! Post night shift sleep after work, I had a lovely family Christmas at my Auntie’s house for food, fun and frolicks. And the works of art above are just a few samplings of what puds were on offer! Lime and Chocolate Cheesecake, Viennese Mince Pies, Chocolate gateaux, Trifle, Raspberry Pavlova you name it, we probably had it! Never has a more beautiful sight besought me!
The baking component of my Crimbo consisted of these beauties, Lemon Butterfly Cakes, and Chocolate Fairy Cakes! I made these to take to my works Christmas Day night shift, and also to take home for Christmas for my family. This is by far the easiest recipe ever! 102_3027
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For the Lemon Butterfly Cakes:
For the Chocolate Fairy Cake
  • 3 eggs- weigh them
  • (Whatever the weight is, weigh the same of)-
  • Caster Sugar, Self Raising Flour & Butter
  • Zest of 3 lemons
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
And to decorate:
    • 200g icing sugar
    • Juice of half a lemon
    • 100g butter
    • Edible glitter
  • 3 eggs- weigh them
  • (Whatever the weight is, weigh the same of)-
  • Caster Sugar, Self Raising Flour & Butter
  • 100g Cocoa Powder
  • 30mls water
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
And to decorate:
    • 200g bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk
    • Silver balls
Method:
Method:
  1. Pre heat oven to 180C
  2. Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy
  3. Beat in an egg and a third of the sifted flour at a time until all three eggs are combined
  4. Zest 3 lemons and add the zest to mix and combine
  5. Juice a lemon and mix with the baking powder, combine into the mix
  6. Distribute even the mix into prepared cake cases and tins, or silicone cake cases
  7. Bake in pre heated oven for 20-30mins or until the cakes are cooked (springy to touch and golden brown- not burnt!)
  1. Pre heat oven to 180C
  2. Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy
  3. Beat in an egg and a third of the sifted flour and baking powder at a time until all three eggs are combined
  4. Mix together the water and cocoa powder to a paste
  5. Mix the paste into the cake mixture until totally combined
  6. Distribute even the mix into prepared cake cases and tins, or silicone cake cases
  7. Bake in pre heated oven for 20-30mins or until the cakes are cooked (springy to touch and golden brown- not burnt!)
To decorate:
  1. Wait for cakes to cool
  2. Once cooled beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon juice to form a butter cream
  3. Using a sharp knife, cut a circular shape out of the top of the cake to form a “short cone shape” when removed
  4. In the hole you have created, fill with the lemon buttercream
  5. Cut the cone shape of cake in half and place on top of the cake at an angle in a “butterfly” shape
  6. Spoon a small amount of lemon curd on the butterfly and top with edible glitter
  7. ENJOY!
To decorate:
  1. Wait for cakes to cool
  2. Once cooled, melt the chocolate over a Ban Marie until fully melted
  3. Using a teaspoon, spoon a little of the melted chocolate in a blob on top of the cake
  4. Top the chocolate with a silver ball
  5. ENJOY!

Finally…
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New Years Day. Me and Stacey were happy to be invited to my Auntie Andrea and Uncle Darren’s house for another lovely family gathering. Buffet time was once again upon us! So after many a homemade sausage roll, pork pie and cheese and crackers, it was delicious pud time!! Open-mouthed smile
I had the treat of two helpings of profiteroles and cream…. Om Nom Nom! [Unfortunately I ate this before a picture could be taken]
But my Auntie being the wonderful human being she is, sent me home with THIS. 2 slices of Homemade Baileys and Profiterole Cheesecake!!!! Yes! Baileys AND Profiterole! Open-mouthed smile OMG it was amazing! very rich and decadent, with a very tangy boozy note. Just what the New Year needs to kick of off!
So…. that was my Christmas and New Year! A big thank you to everyone for reading my blog and getting me to nearly 3900views! Open-mouthed smile In 52 blog posts I am very proud! So happy reading my lovely readers! AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!